The Family They Didn't Have To Be
by JPalmerGirl
Summary: Seven year old, Bernadette 'Bryce' Banner was sent into Foster-Care after her father murdered her mother, she was taken in by the Gibbs' family. Something she instantly became a part of. But now, the little girl is all grown up and even after the Battle of Manhattan, Ross is still on her tail. She's just existing aimlessly until she sees the newscast, someone bombed NCIS. Fem!Bruce


It was by watching a newscast from a TV on a street corner that Bernadette 'Bryce' Banner found out about the bombing at NCIS. She'd been on the run after leaving Stark Tower, or as it was more commonly known 'Avengers Tower' after the battle of Manhattan. Tony and the others had begged her to stay, telling her that she'd always have a home at the Tower, but Brucie couldn't involve them, not after Ross announced that he was hot on her trail. She'd been wandering from country to country for a while, eating when she could, sleeping even less and it showed when she caught a fleeting glance of herself in a shop window. Her eyes were dark circled and slightly sunken, her lips were cracked and pale, her already too skinny frame was even slighter and she had her slightly stringy dark locks hanging in front of her eyes. In a long story short, she looked homeless.

But the moment she saw the newscast, her heart sank and she instantly thought of him. The man that her mother had loved so very much, the man that her little sister had been fathered by, Leroy Jethro Gibbs. After Bryce's mother had been murdered by her father, Social Services sent the seven year old Bryce into Foster-Care. That was where she was assigned to a newbie family with a newborn daughter named Kelly. Bryce didn't understand why they wanted to Foster when their family was so perfect, why did they want Bryce to ruin it? But she found a place there with them, with the Gibbs. They became the family that they didn't have to be.

But she knew that perfect things didn't last too long with her around. But she never expected it to happen while she was at cheer practice when she was fifteen. She, being the small and bony thing she was as a child, was a flyer and she loved it, doing stunts in the air, wind whipping past your hair a million miles a minute. It was as close as the Highschool sophomore could get, to flying. But it was a rainy afternoon that soon turned to evening before Bryce wanted. She had begged her Momma to let her come to practice while she and Kelly were being guarded by an NIS agent. Her Momma had finally relented and let her go, her Daddy's Swiss Army knife taped to the inside of her armpit and four bottles of pepper spray on her person. Her Daddy could be a little protective and even though he was serving in Desert Storm, he still effected her.

"Bryce? You wanna come get some ice cream with us?"

Bryce had smiled at the girl who'd asked her, a blond teen named Alaina. But she declined, pulling out her cellphone and dialing her Momma's number, she was mildly worried, she would usually be there to pick her up already, especially now. But she didn't answer and she didn't come, so Bryce just sat there alone, knees pulled up to her chest as the rain soaked and chilled her to the bone, the sky just getting darker and darker. She whimpered and wrapped her jacket even tighter around her shaking body. She wondered where her Momma had gone and where Kelly was. That was when a van pulled up and a Social Worker got out, that was what made her heart sink.

The worker told her that her Momma and Kelly were both killed in a car accident and that until her Daddy's three year army term was over, she was going to be living with her biological father. Bryce began to give off deep hiccuping sobs, her thin body wracked with the deep wails that were torn from her. The Social Worker just led her into the van and back into hell. Brian Banner was an abusive drunk, that hadn't changed and after eight years in the perfect household, it was hard to go back to that life. A life of fear, walking on eggshells and neglect. But that was what she lived in now.

Little did she know that her Daddy was devastated, a fellow Marine had told him while in Iraq, that both his wife and daughter were dead and his adopted daughter was sent back to her biological father. He knew how Brian had treated his daughter and it angered him immensely to know that Bryce was back with him.

But Bryce managed to snag a scholarship to Yale when she was a Junior, just a sixteen year old, and she hurried off to a dorm room. Leaving behind her disgusting excuse for a Sperm donor and lost to thoughts of the Daddy she loved, the Daddy that was still fighting in Desert Storm. Bryce Banner was a genius and by the time she was eighteen she had graduated with the highest honors in Gamma physics, Astrophysics, and Medical Science. One of the youngest Graduates ever to leave Yale with a waiting position in their chosen profession. But she got her diplomas early and didn't go to her graduation ceremony. Instead she hurried to the airport, to leap into the arms of her Daddy as he got off his plane, his army duffel swung over his shoulder.

She remembered the smell of cologne that hung to him like a heavy curtain and the strong arms that had wrapped around her waist. His hair was peppered with more white then she remembered, and his arms seemed to be almost trembling as she buried her face in his broad shoulder. She pretended not to feel the undeniable wetness there. She mumbled something incomprehensible into his shoulder, leaning into his support gratefully. She swore that she wouldn't cry, she'd been through many things in her life without tears so it wouldn't be hard to be strong for her Daddy.

"I love you so much, Little Brown-eyes."

Then came the tears. Her Daddy's voice was husky and hoarse as he whispered her nickname. Whatever resolve not to cry that she'd had at that point, completely cracked down the middle and she sobbed openly. She wouldn't cry like that again until the destruction that the Gamma Bomb or G-Bomb caused. It was Ross, who signed her on to help build the Gamma Bomb, she had been desperate for someone who wanted her for her mind, not just the fact that she was a woman. Ross fit that bill and signed her on for the Gamma Bomb.

At first, things went well, she bonded with Ross' daughter Betty and they became close friends while working on the project. Then they were going to test it for the first time underground, when a teenager got in the way. His name had been Rick Jones and he was this young Atomic Physics major who'd flirted with Bryce a few times. When the Gamma Bomb was counting down to detonation, it was Bryce who realized that instead of bing inside the safety trench with them, he was outside with the bomb.

Despite Betty's desperate cries of 'Bryce!', and the desperate hands that tried to snag her lab coat. She still fought her way out of the safety trench and ran as fast as she could over to Rick. The beeping timer was vibrating in her skull, Rick's wide, terrified doe-eyes met her's and his mouth was gaping at her like a fish out of water.

"MOVE RICK!"

She bellowed, shoving him towards the safety trench, where Betty yanked him inside from her own safe perch. That was when Betty's eyes met Bryce's through the few yards that separated them. She saw Betty's mouth move, she was screaming something, probably Bryce's name but she couldn't hear her, not over the sound of her pounding heartbeat in her ears. That was when the bomb exploded and an overwhelming amount of numbness and agony spread over his body.

"BERNADETTE REBECCA BANNER!"

Betty had screeched and Bryce stiffened at the memory. Just turning on her heels, stuffing her hands in her pockets as she hurried down the towards the bus stops. She knew that she would be able to catch a bus to D.C there. To her Daddy and NCIS.

-TimeSkip-

"Hey! Why are you in here? Where's your badge?!"

Bryce had her hood up and just looked like a greasy hobo, that's why she wasn't exactly surprised when a NCIS security officer pulled her over with a hard hand on his shoulder. She tried to explain herself, she really did, but the officer wouldn't listen long enough for her to do so. So she did the only thing she could possibly do in this situation, she tried to scream but the officer silenced her with a harsh look. Bryce looked around at the building, it wasn't as destroyed as she thought but she was still worried, even though it was obvious that they were rebuilding. She was searching through her head to remember names that her Daddy had told her about. But when the officer proceeded to drag her inside, she felt the Hulk brush against her consciousness and she knew that her eyes were flecked with acidic green.

"I'm warning you...you WON'T like me when I'm ANGRY!"

Bryce growled, eyes meeting that of the officer and he instantly blanched in fear. The officer knew he'd heard that quote before. Like on the news during the War of Manhattan, from the Hulk. But that was impossible, the Hulk was a man...unless this was Dr. Banner and that the 'he' was actually a 'she'. Either way, he was utterly and totally terrified of the homeless girl.

"Bryce?"

A familiar male voice asked and Bryce's heart lifted like a balloon, he was alright. Thank god that her Daddy was alright. Bryce instantly wrenched her arm away from the stupid officer and ran as fast as she could, over to Gibbs. His Team standing by and watching in amazement as Gibbs opened his arms for a homeless-looking girl to launch herself into his strong and supportive arms. She hugged him tightly for a few moments, before doing something that was taboo in the NCIS world. She whipped a petite hand back and head-slapped the sliver-haired special agent, tears were brimming in her eyes.

"YOU STUPID, UTTER, IDIOT! I CAUGHT THE NEWS ON A STREET CORNER! NOT FROM YOU, NOT FROM YOUR MOUTH LIKE I SHOULD'VE! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! Daddy...I thought you were dead..."

Bryce screeched before crumpling and sobbing openly into her Daddy's chest. Gibbs just closed his eyes and held her tightly, nose wrinkling slightly at the odor coming from the girl. Everyone on the Team looked at them in utter shock. McGee mouthed 'daughter?' across the room at Tony and Ziva, neither of which returned an answer, just a pair of shrugs.

"Bryce, I'm sorry. Why are you here, Little Brown-eyes? I thought you were at Avengers Tower."

Bryce bit her lip and looked down at her shoes and her Daddy's, before sighing softly and looking up at the eyes of her Daddy, eyes filled with concern worry.

"It's Ross again, Daddy. I left the Tower so I wouldn't endanger them."

"Oh my God...you're the Hulk!"

It was McGee's shocked gasp that stunned both father and daughter out of their stupor. The young agent scrambled around on his desk for a scrap of paper and a pen. He gingerly handed the pen and paper to Bryce. The young woman looked at McGee in question and surprise, not understanding what he wanted.

"Could I have an autograph?"

McGee asked and Bryce's eyes widened in surprise, she let out a soft 'oh' and hurried scribbled out her name with the pen. She then handed the pair of stationary supplies back to McGee, he smiled at her shyly and she gently smiled back, thinking of how much he reminded her of Steve. They were so alike, it was clear to see, right down to the innocence and sheer underlying nativity. Though his tech skills were way above Steve's, but he still made her smile.


End file.
